


44 BC

by AT_personal_project



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ancient Rome, Berlin (City), Humor, New York, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-10-29 18:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17812925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AT_personal_project/pseuds/AT_personal_project
Summary: alternate title: when in rome, do as the romans do. James, an airhead teenage boy living in Berlin black out at a party and wakes up in rome. Mia Ray, same age but much more out together, falls asleep in her home in New York and finds herself also waking up in rome. The two meet and soon their goal becomes getting back to the future without being killed.a work in progress so chapters may be edited after they're posted. only grammar and sentance structure though.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [totally_legit_banana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/totally_legit_banana/gifts).



James

Thursday, February 7th, 2019

Berlin, Germany

 

It was raining. Gray sludge blanketed the sidewalks of Berlin as heavy rain poured down on the city from above for the third time in a week. James sighed, tucking his hair into his worn beanie as he kicked through puddles on his way home from school. He was in a hurry, and the rain wasn’t helping him at all. 

 

As he reached the corner of Cunostraße, he slowed down a bit since he only had a block left to walk, and adjusted his beanie again, a bit annoyed that it wouldn’t stay in place. He was going to pick up his sister from her elementary school, and he had around 5 minutes until the final bell would ring. 

 

As he neared the school, he passed the run-down corner store he walked by every day on his way to pick up his sister. He went in. Normally he wouldn’t, but he’d taken money with him that day to get his little sister a birthday present, and it was just begging to be spent. And besides, would his sister really mind being given corner-store chocolates for the third birthday in a row? No, of course not.

 

James took his time picking out the best candy, being the nice brother he was. He spent a total of 7.35€ in the store that day, much more than he could normally afford. Candy in hand, he set out for his sister’s school again, now three minutes late.

 

He arrived out of breath, dangerously juggling his purchases as he ran into the school. He found his sister standing with a group of other sixth graders, laughin with them while evidently growing impatient with her tardy brother.

 

She caught sight of him as he rounded the corner and quickly excused herself from the group before walking up to him. “Hey,” she greeted him, a devilish glint twinkling in her eye, “you’re late.”

 

“Yeah, I know.” His sister was way too put together for her own good. She ought to let him be late every once in a while without… judging him so harshly. “So Eleanor,” he said, “I think I have a slight problem.”

 

She bit back a grin. “Again? What, have you forgotten how to tie your shoelaces? Or did you forget what planet we live on-“

 

“Shut up,” James interrupted, rolling his eyes. “This is serious.”

 

“Oh, so multiplication then.” Eleanor laughed. “I’m here to help.”

 

James pushed lightly at his sister’s shoulder to make her stop. He would probably punch her, were it not for the fact that she was four years younger. And he knew for a fact Eleanor could bite much harder than he could punch, something he didn’t want to give her an excuse to prove. “I just haven’t gotten your birthday present yet,” he explained.

 

“Let me guess, you spent the money on chocolate?”

 

“What?” James spluttered. “No, I would never!!” How did she know?

 

“You’re literally holding 7 euros worth of chocolate in your hand, you idiot,” his sister teased.

 

“Wha-“ James glanced at his hands. He groaned. “Okay, maybe I bought a bit-“

 

“7 euros worth-“

 

“-of chocolate. But let’s ignore that. We have to go home anyways, I have a party later tonight.”

 

“On a Thursday?” His sister looked to him, confused.

 

“Yeah, I have a day off tomorrow for a boxing tournament.”

 

“Oh.” Eleanor fell silent as they began walking home. “Don’t get drunk.”

 

James stared at her. Sometimes his sister scared him. She was more aware of the world and how it worked than any normal sixth grader should be. “I won’t,” he said. “I promise.”

  
  


James Harlin, 15, of Berlin, Germany, had never been one to shy away from a challenge. Not even when the challenge in question, set by one of his extremely drunk friends, was to climb out of his window with his shirt pulled over his neck, singing the pokemon theme song as loud as he could. His promise to his sister immediately forgotten upon arrival, he’d soon agreed to play truth or dare and ended up being given the harshest dare of the night. How his friends came up with the idea they suggested, he’d have to attribute solely to their lack of good judgment. However, being the way he was, he could never shy away from a challenge, however stupid or dangerous it may be.

 

James picked himself off the floor and looked around him. Empty bottles lay scattered around the floor, some still rolling slightly. He pulled his shirt over his shoulders with a heavy sigh, the sheer stupidity of the dare finally setting in his mind. But it was a dare and, like always, he was determined to complete it. Armed with the drunken cheers of his crazed friends, he levered himself out of the window and gripped on the drain pipe running along the side of the house. He slowly slid himself down three floors before he felt his feet hit the ground. Adjusting the shirt around his neck, he began to quietly chant the pokemon theme song.

 

“Louder, bro! We can’t hear shit,” called Sean Figal, his best friend and the self-proclaimed leader of the grade.

 

Rolling his eyes, James clenched his jaw and continued to sing, louder this time. This continued for an awkward two minutes before he saw the neighbor’s lights go on, which he took as his cue to go back inside. He ran to the drainage pipe and began to scamper up it, haphazardly placing his feet wherever he thought the pipe could support him.

 

Climbing up a drainage pipe at 2 am while heavily intoxicated was, of course, not a smart idea. James was relatively successful until about halfway up the pipe when, with a small misstep and a failed attempt to catch himself, he quickly began sliding downwards.

 

“Catch yourself on the windowsills!” His friends shouted out to him. “Don’t let go!”

 

Something his friends should have remembered: James was highly competitive and never thought things through, especially when he was drunk. He took their advice as a challenge and promptly let go of the pipe, resulting in a sudden drop from the second-floor window to the floor. James’ winning smirk was quickly replaced by a look of terror as he plummeted towards the gravel driveway twenty feet below.

 

_ I’m never drinking again  _ he thought, before falling head first onto the ground and blacking out completely.


	2. New York

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter will be edited later

Mia Ray

Thursday, February 7th, 2019

New York, USA

 

Mia Ray had always wondered what it would be like, living in the past. Perilous tales of the past had always taken her fancy, and she dreamed of one day starring in her own. Unfortunately, there was one thing stopping her: the fact that she lived in the 21st century. 

 

Gone were the plagues, now everybody was vaccinated and survival was ‘in’. Gone were the days of quests, knights throwing themselves at the chance to go on a hopeless journey in the chance of fulfilling an ancient prophecy. Where were the castles? The kings? The bloody, unnecessary wars? She was convinced she was stuck in the wrong age. Mia was dying to go on a quest, she’d imagined it several times. She would pledge herself to the king, promising to bring glory to the land, before embarking on a dangerous mission upon which she would lose several limbs, along with her dignity. That was the dream. The closest thing she’d had to a quest in this boring century was that one time when her mom had accidentally left her at the grocery store and she’d had to walk home alone. Not exactly heroic.

 

What she busied herself with instead was school. One thing the 21st century had that the Roman times didn’t was a decent education system so, rather than going on epic quests like she really wanted, she buried herself in her studies and decided to forget about her time traveling wishes.

 

Thursday the 7th of February found itself to be a very stressful day. Having spent most of the previous day in the public library researching for an essay she was writing for an extracurricular competition, she only had a few hours left to finish her history project, which was worth an entire 10% of her midterm grade. Technically she had already finished it the week before, but the looming deadline prompted Mia to feel the need to review and refine it until she deemed it perfect.

 

Mia didn’t have good stamina in most areas; she could barely run more than a half mile without getting winded in her sports classes, and her attention span only lasted about half the lesson when it came to math. However somehow, despite having already spent an entire day in school, worrying about her essay, her mind was fresh as she started working on the project. She pulled up the criteria checklist and skimmed through it to see if there was anything she missed.

 

To Mia’s dismay, no matter how hard she tried, she could not find anything to fix about the project. It covered every point of criteria and then some, and the poster board couldn’t fit any more information. She leaned back into her chair with a sigh. It would be at least another 2 hours before either of her parents came home and, being an only child, there would be no one in the house with her until then. She contemplated inviting a classmate over, but there was nobody she knew well enough to make it worth the hassle. 

 

Mia went downstairs again, this time looking for something to eat. Her ponytail was coming loose, so she pulled out the hair tie as she bounced down the last few steps and rounded the corner to the kitchen. 

 

Once upstairs again, she settled in to watch a bit of TV with the remaining hours until her parents came back.

 

The hours passed quickly, and before long she could hear the key turning in the front door lock. Her parents were home. The family usually had dinner as soon as her parents got back so that they could have time before bed to finish off work. Her father worked a small, respectable job as a history professor at the local college, and her mother worked for a bank in the city. They usually got home late, which is why it didn’t come as a surprise to Mia that it was already dark out when she went downstairs to greet her parents.

 

“What are we having for dinner?” Mia asked as she helped her mom bring the silverware to the dining room. “Something smelled good in the slow cooker earlier.”

 

“Oh yes, your father put some stew in this morning on his way to work. Coming, Robert?” Her mom shouted toward the kitchen.

 

“One second,” her father called back. Mia waited with her mother at the dinner table as her dad added the finishing touches to the soup. There were a couple small scuffling noises, and then he entered the dining room, carrying the steaming pot of stew with a large ladle. “Say hello to Stewie.” He grinned; he had obviously been waiting for a while to make the joke.

 

“Oh god, Robert.”

 

“Stewie?” Mia rolled her eyes. “How long did it take you to come up with that one?”

 

“Shush, let’s eat.” Her father set the pot down on the table and took a seat. “Oh, I forgot the cheese grater in the kitchen,” he realized, dramatically facepalming. “Mia, would you grab it for me?”

 

“Ugh, do I have to?” She complained.

 

“Yes, you ungrateful child,” her father joked. Suddenly his face lit up. “I just made a pun without even trying! I’m so cool.”

 

“We’re all so proud.”

 

Dinner passed quickly. The stew was a bit over salted, but they balanced it out with bread, so it tasted fine in the end. Mia’s mother told a story from her work that day, (a coworker had brought her daughter in- apparently she thought it was take your kid to work day), while her father nodded along, pretending to enjoy his over salted stew.

 

“Is there going to be dessert?” Mia asked, leaning back in her chair.

 

“Well, I was going to suggest some bowls of cereal, but someone ate them all while we were at work.” He looked pointedly at Mia, who raised her arms in defense. “One might even say there’s a cereal killer on the loose.”

 

“Dad, no.”

  
  


The rest of the evening passed similarly to dinner; Mia sat in the living room with her parents, reading a book as they spoke together. Occasionally her father would interrupt her mom to tell a joke, which was then often followed by a very pregnant pause during which they just stared at each other. Her mom looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

 

When the clock struck 9, Mia picked up her things and went up to her room. She showered, brushed her teeth and braided her hair. Before going to bed, she read over her history project one last time to make sure it was perfect. Then, at 10 o’clock, Mia turned her lights off and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

James

February 7th, 44 BC

Somewhere in Rome

 

 _Ouch_ was James’ first coherent thought when he opened his eyes. A sharp pain sporadically stabbed at the back of his head, making him feel a bit woozy. Lifting his head up, he brought his hand up to cautiously hover over the back of his skull, checking for blood. Finding none, he looked around, trying to find the cause of his brief fainting spell. Perhaps he had hit his head somewhere? But, if that was the case, where had it happened? With a sudden jolt of realization, a panicked thought crossed his mind: he had no idea where he was.

 

Nothing. James was greeted by a stray tumbleweed that rolled idly by as it was carried away by the wind. He squinted into the distance. This wasn’t the first time he’d woken up hungover in an unknown area: he knew from experience that he needed to find someone who could give him directions back to where he lived.

 

Straining for a second, he rolled to the side and sat up. Having determined his whereabouts -the middle of fucking nowhere- his next goal was to find the person who could help him get back home. Struggling against the pounding in his head, he stood up, stretching briefly as he looked around.

 

Sighing, he ran his hands over his face and blinked, adjusting his eyes to the harsh sunlight. As far as he could see, he was completely alone. The area seemed to stretch out for miles. From far off, he could make out the shape of mountains. At their base lay a small, nondescript town, surrounded by small patches of trees and shrubbery.

 

He blinked. Did Berlin have mountains? Maybe. He was too bad at geography to know for sure. Feeling lost and not knowing what else to do, he picked a random direction and began walking. Hopefully he’d come across another person. With every step on the sandy ground, small clouds of dirt flew up. This paired with the relentless heat made for a very uncomfortable journey.

 

It took 20 minutes of uninterrupted walking before he found help. Help came in the form of a middle-aged man, perhaps thirty or fourty years his senior, who was stood in a chariot drinking from a metal bottle as he surveyed the landscape around him.

 

James walked up to him. “Hey!” He shouted, using his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. “Sir, can you help me?”

 

The man turned, squinting, and looked at him. “Of course, what do you need? Can I offer you a drink?”

 

“No thanks, I just need to know where I am.”

 

“You’re in Rome, of course.”

 

“The what?” James asked, confused. “Dude you’re stoned. What time is it?”

 

“I’d say around midday.” The man replied, looking at a stone shaped like a protractor.

 

“Okay,” James said slowly. “What’s that stone looking thingy?”

 

“My clepsydra, of course.”

 

“That makes no sense.”

 

“Shouldn’t have asked then,” the man replied as he took a long drink from his bottle.

 

James could feel his throat getting drier the longer he watched the man drink. “Do you reckon I could have a sip after all?” he asked.

 

“Oh, sure!” The man finished his gulp and pressed the bottle into his hands.

 

Gratefully, James accepted the bottle and tentatively took a sip, immediately recoiling at the taste. “Wha- What is this made of??” he spluttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

 

“Goat dung.”

 

“What?!” he stood frozen for a moment, gaping at the charioteer.

 

“Yes, obviously,” the man replied, his thick accent bleeding into his words. “What did you think it was made of?”

 

“Well, not that!!” James’ brain was short-circuiting. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around what he’d heard. “Why would you even drink dung??”

 

The charioteer looked at him, curious. “To give me energy, of course! You aren’t from around here, are you?”

 

“Well, no I guess,” James said tediously. “I’m from Berlin.”

 

“Oh, I’ve never heard of that. Is it nice there?”

 

“Well, yeah. I suppose.” _At least we don’t drink goat shit_ , he thought sourly.

 

“I don’t think I got your name,” the man prompted suddenly.

 

“James, you?”

 

“Flavius.” He paused. “Well, James, I’m headed to town now, do you want to come with me?”

 

James thought about it. It was either go with Flavius or stand in the middle of nowhere for days until he eventually died of dehydration.

 

He decided to go with Flavius.

 

He stepped into the chariot, cautiously avoiding jostling it. The chariot was pulled by a very large ox; disturbing it probably wasn’t the best idea. Flavius looked to make sure James was holding on properly before whipping the ox into motion. As soon as the ox started moving, the chariot became unexpectedly bumpy, and James struggled to hold on.

 

They moved relatively quickly. A car moved faster, but for the fact that the chariot was basically a giant basket on wheels, the speed they achieved was pretty impressive. Flavius kept his hands on the reins and watched the oxen as he attempted to make small talk with James. “So, you’re from Berlin, right? Must not be anywhere close to here, that would explain why your clothes are so strange.” He gestured to James’ joggers.

 

“My clothes?” James snorted. “You’re the one wearing a giant shirt!”

 

“It’s called a tunic,” Flavius responded. “Everybody wears them. I’m surprised you aren’t.”

 

“Where can I get one?” James asked. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Although he didn’t know where he was, it made sense to dress similar to the people, so as to not raise suspicion. The last thing he needed was someone asking how he’d gotten here because he didn’t know either.

 

“Oh, you could probably find some in town,” Flavius answered. “If you don’t have any money, though,” he added at the look on James’ face, “I have an old one with me. I’ll give it to you when we get there.”

 

James thanked him. They fell into silence then, which lasted until the end of the ride. Every now and again, Flavius would whip the ox back into motion. Whenever this happened, James made sure to hold on to something, as the sudden increase in speed threw him off balance nearly every time. Flavius stood stock still, though. It could only be assumed that he spent most of his time riding in chariots.

 

They reached the town quickly. Soon after arriving, Flavius stepped off the chariot and said goodbye to James before tying his ox to the nearest tree and walking off. James squinted after him. Who would just randomly leave like that? He looked around. The town seemed pretty quiet. There were a few people milling around, but for the most part, everybody kept to themselves.

 

He looked into the basket part of the chariot and noticed the tunic Flavius was talking about. He assumed it was okay for him to take it, so he grabbed it and slipped it over his head. It felt weird; a little too breezy around the bottom and too long for his taste. It was a lot like wearing a dress, or an XXL t-shirt. He spotted a string lying next to where the tunic had been and grabbed it too, tying it around his waist. Alright, now James was officially wearing a dress.

 

The bottom was uncomfortably lumpy, so he pulled off his joggers and folded them, leaving them in the chariot. He considered keeping his t-shirt on, but the material bunched up underneath the tunic and made him look lumpy, so he pulled it off too. He placed it on top of the joggers. He decided to keep his shoes on, despite seeing a spare pair of sandals in the chariot. Nothing could make James take off his brand new Nike’s.

 

He walked around a bit then, poking his head into random windows to see if anybody was home. There were a couple people inside, but except for that, the houses were mostly empty. Maybe there was some kind of event going on? There were too many houses for the number of people in town. He walked down a narrow alleyway between two houses and came out into a little square. There were a few moss-overgrown benches and some shrubbery, but it was otherwise empty. James looked around. There were a few people scattered around the square, all of them wearing tunics similar to the one James had on.

 

He moved to sit at one of the benches but was intercepted by a girl he hadn’t seen before. “Hey,” she said, stepping in front of him. “Can we talk?”


	4. Chapter 4

James

44 BC

Somewhere in Rome

 

The girl led him out of the square and back into the alleyway he’d come from. “Hey, what year is it?” James asked her randomly, hoping she’d give him an answer he could understand.

 

“I’d say it’s around February. The year is 44 BC.”

 

Finally a year he can understand! Also- “wait what?” James gaped at her. “44 BC? Ancient Rome?”

 

The girl nodded. “Yes, but I’m not from here.”

 

“You’re from-”

 

“New York,” she interrupted. “White plains specifically.”

 

“So does that mean you’re-“

 

“From the future, yes.” The girl paused to flick a section of hair over her shoulders before she continued. “From 2019 actually. You?”

 

James frowned. “Wait, how do you know I’m from the future too?”

 

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” She suppressed a grin, pointing down at his feet. “I saw your shoes from across the square. Nike hasn't been invented yet.”

 

“Ah, right.” Stupid of him not to realize that. Come to think of it, when was Nike invented?

 

“1964.” The girl said randomly, seemingly reading his mind. “Nike was founded in 1964.”

 

“Wha- how did you?” James narrowed his eyes. “Are you…. psychic?”

 

“What? No! I just assumed based off of your expression that that’s what you wanted to know. Either that or you suddenly forgot what your own name is.”

 

“Oh god,” James groaned. “You’re just like my sister.”

 

”I’ll take it as a compliment.” The girl paused. “When are you from? Never thought I’d be saying that.” She paused again. “And what’s your name?” She bent down to pick a stray twig off the ground, twisting it between her fingers as she waited for a response. The action, although simple in nature, was unnecessarily intimidating, and James couldn’t help but imagine all sorts of horrible things about the strange girl in front of him.

 

“I’m James, also from 2019.” The blank expression on the girls face when he finished speaking prompted him to continue. “I live in Berlin, and I’m 15 years old.”

 

“I could have guessed that you’re German, you have a thick accent. But where did you learn English?”

 

“Well I don’t exactly live under a rock, do I. I learned it in school.” James smiled.“So what’s your name?”

 

“Mia Ray. Just call me Mia, though. Two names are too long.”

 

“Alrighty then, Mia Ray.”

 

“Ass.”

 

“How’d you get here then?” James asked, ignoring her comment.

 

“I dunno, I just fell asleep and woke up here. You?”

 

“Uh, same,” James said, like a liar.

 

“Oh gosh, you’re a terrible liar . What really happened?”

 

“Fell off a drainage pipe,” he mumbled.

 

“You what?”

 

Oh well, may as well own it. “I fell off a drainage pipe at a party and knocked myself out.”

 

“Oh… Wow.” Mia looked at him, incredulous. “There are so many things I’m afraid to ask about that.”

 

“Yeah, well-“

 

“Let’s go get some money,” Mia interrupted. “We’ll need to find a place to sleep too.”

 

“Wait, we?” James pulled a face at her. “When did that become a thing?”

 

“Well, we’re both from the future and we both need to find a way to get back, don’t we. May as well work together.”

 

“I guess.”

 

“Plus, you seem like you don’t know much. You’d most probably die without my help.”

 

“That was unnecessary.”

 

*

 

James led Mia to one of the benches in the courtyard they’d just come out of. As Mia sat down, James noticed a few people take notice of them: Mia’s jeans and sweatshirt stuck out like a sore thumb across the white backdrop of the fading buildings and seemed to be causing a bit of a stir. _Of course, they’ve never seen modern clothes before!!_ James realised. He pulled Mia back out to the alleyway.

 

“Hey!” She protested. “Let go of me!”

 

He loosened his grip on her as he explained, “people were starting to look at your clothes weirdly. We should get out of here.”

 

*

 

They set off together then, neither of them saying anything as they walked side by side. James didn’t know how to feel about Mia, she scared him a bit but seemed to be really intelligent. He decided to wait things out; maybe she’d turn out to be nice after all.

 

They walked for what seemed like miles, although their journey lasted only a rough half kilometer. On the way, James wondered how he’d gotten to be where he was. Did he travel in time? And if he did, why wasn’t he still in Berlin? How did he get to Rome? He nudged Mia’s shoulder. “Hey, I met some guy on the way here and he told me a super weird date when I asked what year it was. Something like xvi Kalendas Martias A.U.C.

 

“Well, that date is incomplete so I don’t really know what it means,” Mia started, “but I think I know why he says the date weirdly.”

 

When they fell into silence, James nudged her again. “Are you going to explain?”

 

“What? Oh. Yeah. So you know how in 2019 we use the Gregorian calendar right?”

 

“Um, sure.” He definitely did not know that.

 

“Before that,” she continued, “people used the Julian calendar, which is almost exactly the same, except for some small differences with the leap year system. Before that they used the Roman calendar, which is what the man used to give you the date. The Julian calendar was implemented about a year ago, on the first of January 45 BC, so I guess that man just hasn’t gotten used to the new system yet.”

 

“Wow, how do you know all that?”

 

“I just really like Ancient Rome, I guess.”

 

“Ah. And how did you know the date?” James asked, impressed.

 

“I read the year on a sign. I had to guess the month, though. It was February in 2019 so I assumed it’s the same time of year here. I really have no idea though.

 

“Oh. So you’re a history nerd? All I know about Ancient Rome is they had weird numbers and there was some dude called Julius Caesar.”

 

“Oh yeah, Julius Caesar was a dictator and he invented the Julian calendar. If my assumptions are correct, he’s currently in power and is going to be assassinated in a couple months.”

 

“And that would be...bad?”

 

“Yes, you idiot,” Mia replied, exasperated. “It actually led to the fall of the Roman Republic.”

 

*

 

They fell silent again. James felt a mild bit of resentment towards Mia already: they’d barely just met and she was already comfortable with calling him stupid. Who does that?

 

“The only thing I can’t figure out,” Mia said, interrupting his thoughts, “is how everyone can understand us.”

 

“What do you mean?” James asked. “Didn’t ancient Romans speak German?”

 

“No, you dolt! They spoke Latin, every idiot knows that.”

 

He ignored her. “But everybody’s speaking German!”

 

“What do you mean?” Mia frowned. “Everyone’s speaking English.”

 

“No? What are you dumb they’re speaking Ger-“ James paused as it hit him. “Maybe everything’s being translated!”

 

“That’s impossible.” Mia crossed her arms.

 

“I can prove it! I’ll say something in German.” He thought for a moment before continuing, “kannst du mich verstehen?”

 

“Yes, obviously I can understand you.” Mia rolled her eyes. “You have to say something in German!”

 

“That was German.”

 

She cocked an eyebrow. “Really? How is that possible?”

 

“I dunno but it’s awesome, now I can speak in German! Oh, this is good, I forgot the word for ‘Badezimmer’ and I’ve had to go for ages.”

 

“Oh, there’s probably latrines in the amphitheater up ahead.”

 

“La- who? I swear you made that word up.”

 

“Latrines!” Mia glances at him, her eyes narrowed. “I swear, have you ever even been in a history classroom? A Latrine is a toilet for an ancient Roman. It’s kind of a wooden bench with holes that covers a large trench. The holes are, well, the toilets. There are usually around five holes per wooden board.”

 

“That’s…..gross.”

 

“Yeah, well. If you need to go to the bathroom that’s your best bet.”

 

James pulled a face. “Alright, I guess let’s go.”


	5. Chapter 5

James

44 BC

Amphitheater in Rome

 

James jogged to catch up to Mia as they walked under the archway of the amphitheater. His tunic caught in the wind a bit, fluttering up and exposing most of his legs. He tried to hold it down as he ran, which made him move lopsidedly. He looked enviously at Mia’s jeans and sweatshirt ensemble. Come to think of it, he probably shouldn't have left his sweatpants in Flavius’ chariot.

 

The seats were packed: everybody living within 5 miles seemed to be at this event.  _ Ah, so that’s why the town was so empty, _ James realized _. _ Mia pulled him away and led them to the stands. She tapped on the shoulder of a young woman who stood talking to an elderly man, presumably her father.

 

“Hello.” The woman turned around to face them. “Do you need something?”

 

“Yes, actually,” Mia responded. “What’s going on?” She gestured to the field where dozens of male athletes were split off into groups, fighting each other.

 

“Today’s the boxing competition!” The woman explained. “The athletes have been training for weeks; they all want to win the 500 denarius prize.”

 

James tugged on the sleeve of Mia’s sweatshirt. “How much is that?”

 

“About 20 aureus.”

 

“Oh thanks, that helps,” he replied sarcastically.

 

Mia shushed him and thanked the woman before dragging him away. She had a frighteningly devilish glint in her eyes. “This is good,” she said. “You wrestle, right?”

 

“Yeah, how did you-”

 

“Lucky guess.”

 

Mia was scary sometimes. How did she… Know things?

 

“Alright, you have fun.” Mia clapped a friendly hand on his shoulder. “I’m gonna head back to the stands. Let’s meet under the archway after the competition is over.”

 

“You’re leaving?” James frowned. “What if I get lost?”

 

Mia gestured around her. “Literally just don’t leave the amphitheatre and you’ll be fine.” She turned and walked away without further explanation.

 

James looked after her for a moment.  _ What is her deal? _

 

*

 

The training ground was large, but it only consisted of a few scattered straw dummies and about four times as many men. James picked the nicest looking one, a middle aged man with a protruding stomach and greying hair, and began to warm up next to him.

 

Another man joined them not long after. He looked to be in his late-twenties, and the clothes he was wearing suggested that he was some kind of a soldier. He wore a metal helmet with a red mohawk.

 

_ A gladiator! _ James realised. He’d seen the funky mohawk hats before! He couldn’t remember where; probably in some movie. “Up, dog!” He shouted at him.

 

The gladiator looked confused. “What is up dog?”

 

“Ha! Nothing much, how about you?” James was proud of himself. He’d tried countless times to play the updog trick on his sister, but she never fell for it. 

 

The man to his right addressed the gladiator as he said, “ignore the him. Children never know how to hold their mouths properly, like they should.” He gave James a pointed glare and went back to beating up the straw dummy.

 

What? Rude _. _

 

*

 

“Yeet!” James yelled, throwing the spear as far as he could. He heard a distant thump as it met its mark.

 

“Yeet?” The gladiator grunted as he pulled a sword out of the lifeless body of its target. “What is yeet?”

 

“Don’t worry about it.”

 

“You know, you say some funny things,” he said, stepping over his discarded weapon. “Where do you come up with them?”

 

“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. He jerked his thumb over to one of the training areas. “Can you help me practice?”

 

“Yes.” 

 

They walked together to a new set of dummies, one of which the man immediately began furiously pummeling. Mia came over from the stands to join them. The townspeople had given her modern clothing one too many strange glances and, after an unsuccessful attempt to buy a tunic off someone, she decided to go back to James.

 

“Where do we find our weight classes?” James ignored Mia’s return as he watched watched the gladiator, leaning against a straw dummy and absentmindedly digging his heels into the dirt.

 

“What are weight classes?” The man asked. “We don’t have those.”

 

“What?” James cried, incredulous. “There’s no weight classes?” He turned to Mia. “There’s no weight classes??”

 

“You will probably end up being put with one of the other small guys, you’re too weak to go against one of the adults,” Mia reassured him. She pointed at a group of men a few years older than them. “Maybe one of those guys.”

 

“Gosh, I hope.” A large group of middle-aged men around 200 pounds stood around two men fighting. They pumped their fists in the air and yelled both insults and encouragement into the circle. James hoped he wouldn’t have to wrestle one of them.

 

James had wrestled before; the sport itself wasn’t unusual to him. One thing that he’d never done, despite all his experience, was wrestle out of his weight class. He’d always been in competitions against boys his age of the same stature, never anyone above the age of 20. As he looked out towards the practice rings, he couldn’t see anyone his age, let alone anyone with the same lanky physique. He was well and truly fucked. 

 

As time went on he became more and more nervous. Why did it have to be boxing? Couldn’t it at least be something like poker, where weight classes didn’t exist and he could  _ cheat _ ? Come to think of it, did poker even exist in Ancient Rome? He’d have to ask Mia.

 

He walked over to the judges stands. James didn’t know much about history, but to his credit, he was learning. He now knew that whenever he didn’t know something, he should ask someone smarter than him. Like Mia, for example. Or old people, they usually seemed to know everything. He made his way to the judge's area to look over the rules, just in case they were different from modern boxing. A sign was hammered into the ground beside the field. 

 

Rules

  * Thick, wrapped gloves may be worn to protect hands and lessen blows 
  * No kicking
  * For gladiatorial events, the length of the wraps may be increased and jagged edges may be added to the knuckles to make blows more deadly (cestus) 
  * Matches begin with boxers facing each other, standing upright with arms bent and held forward 
  * Fight ends with knockout or surrendering
  * Allowed hit to a man when he is down; DO NOT, directly downward punch into the skull
  * Draw lots to find competitors
  * A variety of offensive and defensive boxing positions may be utilized by fighters (i.e ducking, swerving etc.)
  * Hits to the head and face permitted
  * Death at own risk



Alright, Ancient Roman boxing didn’t seem too different to modern boxing. Maybe James could get away with this, possibly even pull out a win. With newfound confidence, he walked back to Mia, grinning. “Guess who’s going to absolutely smash this tournament?” He grinned. “We boutta be rich as hell.”

Mia beamed. “Awesome, good that you’re confident.” She patted him on the back, ushering him out onto the field. “Go socialize with the others. It could help us to make friends with locals for the time being.”

“Aight.” James waved as he walked away.

“Oh, by the way,” Mia shouted after him, “Ancient Romans compete naked.”

James blinked. He slowly turned around. He blinked again. “They  _ what _ ? I am not competing naked!” James argued insistently. “Not even if you pay me!”

“But you have to!” From across the field, a horn could be heard, signaling the start of the competition. “If you don’t, we won’t have any money to survive!”

James huffed. “You do it then if you’re so keen on naked sports.”

Mia glared at him. “No, I can’t. I’m a girl. Girls aren’t allowed to compete.”

“Whatever.” James crossed his arms in defiance. “I will not compete naked, and that’s final.”

*

A tall, slightly muscular guy was standing uncomfortably close to him. His eyebrows edging close together every time he blinked. James took a few seconds to take in the person who he was hopefully about to throw to the ground. Broad shoulders, strong square-shaped jawline, high cheekbones. Looking him dead in the eye, his opponent stood intimidatingly upright with his arms bent and held forward. 

 

And so the match began.

 

Faster than he could realize, a fist hit his jaw and forced James to spit out blood which had mixed with the spit in his mouth. Before he could even straighten himself to properly focus on his opponent again a pair of strong arms wrapped around his knees and knocked him to the ground. 

 

This happened again and again. James’ opponent was relentless- one punch was followed by another and he barely had enough time to feel any pain before the third hit landed.

  
Dirt clung to his skin as he stood up slowly, shivering. A piece of rock had flown into his mouth and he spat it out as he turned to face his opponent again. At this point, rage was growing inside him. He had never lost a fight. _ _


	6. Chapter 6

Mia

44 BC

Roman Villa

 

Wrestling was a boring sport to watch. Mia dozed off in the stands and only woke up after the competition was over. She returned to James much later than she’d promised, which was probably the cause for the peeved expression James wore as he walked up to her.

 

“Where were you?” He asked indignantly. “Competition ended hours ago!”

 

“Sorry, sorry. I got a bit caught up… Talking to the locals. Everything’s so rich with history here!”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” James waved her off, his face sour. “I didn’t win the competition.”

 

“What??” Mia cried, incredulous. “I thought you were a boxer!”

 

“Yeah, well, apparently not a good one.”

 

“Evidently not.”

 

“I was put against a guy about my age-“

 

“Oh, that’s good.”

 

“He was twice the size of me, though! Had me beat in under two minutes.” James stared off to the field. “I’ve never lost a fight before.”

 

“There’s a first time for everything,” Mia jeered.

 

James scowled at her. “The guy’s standing over there, by the rings. Let’s follow him home and steal his stuff! He deserves it.”

 

“What? Are you crazy?? You can’t just break into people’s houses because they beat you at boxing!” Mia crossed her arms.

 

“Well, usually you don’t,” James agreed. “But think about it! We’re in Ancient Rome, it’s not like we can be punished for anything!”

 

“Of course we can! You think just because we don’t technically live here means that we won’t get punished if we’re caught? It’s a stupid idea.”

 

“Well, I’m doing it whether you come or not. I’m gonna take money too to buy food.”

 

Mia groaned. “Fine, I’ll come with you.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, now that I think about it we really do need money. And if I come with, there’s much less of a chance we’ll get caught. Besides, I can tell from your opponents clothing that he’s rich. His father is a senator. His tunic has got two broad stripes on it.”

 

“Hah, nerd.”

 

Mia shrugged. “Hate me cause you ain’t me. Now let’s go break into that guys house.”

 

“Cool! I’ve always wanted to break into someone’s house,” James grinned, walking towards the center of the field where his opponent from earlier stood.

 

“What? Why?”

*

They followed James’ opponent home from the amphitheater. Thankfully, he didn’t live far away enough to warrant a chariot, so they were able to keep up with him without breaking a sweat. The boy was around James’ height, perhaps a bit taller and definitely more muscular. He had dirty blond hair that shone slightly in the sunlight and carried himself with an air of regality that James certainly didn’t have. It’s really no wonder James lost. 

 

They walked behind him for about 10 minutes before finally reaching what was presumably his house. It was a one-story structure, about the size of a large suburban house. There were some small windows, but many of them didn’t have any coverings, so it was easy to peer inside. From the look of it, the boy’s family was relatively affluent, if anything could be said about the numerous slaves milling around on the inside of the building. The roof was red, the exact same color of the stripes on the boy’s robes. Mia wondered whether that had any significance, but she pushed the thought out of her mind as James reached for her and pointed around the corner of the house. 

 

By this time, the boy had reached his front door and was letting himself in. James made sure they stayed out of sight by leading Mia around the back of the house, where they could remain hidden for the time being. They sat underneath one of the windows and waited for the sun to set, at which time they could sneak in unnoticed.

 

*

When the sun set and almost everyone in the house was asleep, Mia and James went into action. While waiting, they had silently agreed that James should go through the rooms while Mia kept lookout. Their first order of business would be finding a bag. The closest thing they had was the pocket of Mia’s sweatshirt, which wasn’t large enough to hold more than a few coins.

They began their mission with James hoisting Mia up onto the windowsill. It wasn’t more than a meter off the ground, but Mia insisted on keeping her pants clean, and James knew better than to argue with her and so lifted her up. Once she was inside, he followed suit and climbed in. 

The room they’d entered was small, not larger than Mia’s bedroom back home. There was a desk in the middle of the room with a couple papyrus scrolls on it. In each corner stood a small marble statue of the same man. Mia assumed it was the boy’s senator father.

She crossed over to the door on the other side of the room and stuck her head out to watch the hallways. James made himself useful by rifling through the papers on the desks and examining the contents of the shelves that lined the walls of the room.

 

After only 3 minutes in, Mia could hear people talking from far away.  _ It’s a villa, of course they have guards _ Mia realised with a groan. To determine the distance between them, she stuck her head out of the doorframe and found a group of men walking towards their room.

 

Bad idea.

 

The men spotted her immediately and began walking over.

 

“James?” She called behind her. “James!”

 

“What?” His head popped up from behind the desk. “Are there people?”

 

“Yeah, a couple are coming this way.”

 

“Shit.” James quickly threw what he could into a small satchel he had grabbed off the shelves. From far off, they could hear the sounds of shouting and what seemed like some 2 or 3 of the men breaking into a run towards the room they were in. Mia alerted James and he closed the satchel and stood up. And not a moment too soon- right after she’d spoken, three armed men burst into the room. Amid the shouts, Mia signaled towards an open window, hoping James would understand.


	7. the second time James falls out of a window

James inched closer to the window and, jackpot. A patch of moss. He knew it wasn’t the best thing to break a fall but it was all they had. 

 

He turned to Mia. “Do you trust me?” 

 

She glanced at him questioningly before it slowly dawned on her what he was thinking of. “No!” she hissed. “Whatever you’re thinking: don’t do it!”

 

Smirking, he pushed her out anyways. A second later, a man burst through the door. He glanced around the room before his gaze settled on James. “Hey!” He shouted, pointing at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

 

“Nothing,” James replied. Since Mia had jumped out, he’d sat on the windowsill, and was prepared to jump out. “I’ll be leaving now,” he said to the man, letting himself fall backward out of the window.

 

_ Such a power move, _ he thought on the way down.  _ I’m so cool. _

 

Several screams later, James landed hard on his back and showed no signs of being able to get out any time soon. A sharp pain flared up his spine as he tried to shift himself.

 

“Are you okay?” Mia ran over, looking worried. “Can you move?”

 

“Hneugh,” James mumbled incoherently.

 

“What were you even thinking, falling backward out of the window. Why would you do that?”

 

“Because it looked cool,” James muttered. “Did I look cool?”

 

“Yeah, for about two seconds before you face planted.” Mia suppressed a laugh. “Why did you even do that? We were on the first floor. You could have just stepped over the windowsill.”

 

“I wanted to look heroic,” he grumbled.

 

Mia was about to reply when she was interrupted by a shout behind them. “Get over here! We aren’t done with you yet!” The man, this time joined by two other armed men, pointed at them and broke into a run. James and Mia looked at each other for a split-second, not knowing what to do, before James hauled himself up into a standing position and began to hobble away.

 

“What are you doing?” Mia grabbed his arm as she stalked after him. “You almost broke your spine a minute ago. You can’t run.”

 

“I can try,” James said, once again feeling mildly heroic. 

 

This feeling was immediately vanquished by a large hand holding him back. “What do you think you’re doing, running away?” He turned to face a tall, beefy man who stood in front of the other two. 

 

Mia was unrestrained but showed no signs of wanting to run away. “What do you want with us?” she asked, stepping forwards. “Where are you going to take us?”

 

“To the master of the house. He’ll decide what consequences you will face.” One of the men standing in the back clamped an arm around Mia’s wrist and began dragging her towards the house. James followed a few moments later.

 

The interior of the house was just as dramatic as the outside. As the guards led them past rooms they hadn’t been to before, James craned his neck to try and see their contents as Mia, out of respect and probably common sense, kept her head bowed and stayed silent.

 

They didn’t walk much longer, soon reaching the final destination: a bland room with a few couches and rugs. On the far end of the room stood the boy James had wrestled in the competition earlier in the day, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

 

He walked up to them with his arm outstretched, his palm facing the ground. Mia reached out to shake the boy’s hand, but he let his arm fall before she could. “Ave,” he said. “My name is Julius.” 

 

“Jeez, is everybody around here called Julius?” James turned to look at Mia. “I swear I’ve met like 4 already.”

 

Mia shrugged. “It was a popular name. Like James.”

 

“Touche.”

 

The guards pushed them forwards. “These two broke in and tried to steal some of your possessions,” they explained. “We caught them as they were running away.”

 

James twisted his arms, trying to break free from the guard's grasp. The attempt, although unsuccessful, caused them to let go, and he seized the opportunity to rub his arms as he spoke. “We had a reason! We’re from the future and we desperately need money and food to survive! Plus, you beat me in the competition before and I wanted revenge.”

 

“Ignore him.” Mia rolled her eyes. “We didn’t come here for revenge, we came to ask for help.”

 

“By breaking into my house?”

 

“Our methods were extreme, yes,” Mia replied sheepishly, “but it was necessary. We really are from the future; as dumb as it sounds, it’s the truth. I mean, look at his shoes, have you ever seen that brand before?” She pointed at James’ shoes.

 

Julius stared at James’ feet for a moment, a pensive look on his face. “I see,” he said finally, beginning to pace around the room. His arms were clasped together behind his back and as he spoke, a strand of hair fell into his eyes. His pushed it back up and continued. “Your stories make sense.”

 

“You believe us?” James asked, incredulous.

 

“Yes, I do. I believe it is the will of the Gods that brought you here. It must be their doing.”

 

“But why would any gods bother bringing us back in time?” Mia interjected. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

 

“When has any god ever made sense? I believe they brought you here as godly amusement.” 

 

“Great, so we’re like a game of sims,” James grumbled.

 

“What?”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Mia interrupted again. “But why wouldn’t they just do it themselves? Why pick ordinary people?”

 

“I mean, what is a man but a vessel through which a higher entity can see?” Julius pondered. “We are but pawns of God; slaves to his will.”

 

James blinked. “What?”

 

“Consider it. The Gods stay bound to the sky, unwilling to roam the earth. We must carry out their will, that is the very reason we were put on this earth.”

 

James frowned. “You know God doesn’t exist, right?”

 

Mia yanked on his shoulder, pulling him to the side. “Shut up,” she whispered harshly. “You have to watch what you say about god, ancient Romans are very religious.”

 

James rolled his eyes. “How would you know? It’s not like you live here.”

 

Mia smacked him upside the head. “Dumbass! Everybody knows that. Do you even pay attention in history class?”

 

“Well… No.”

 

“They believe in Roman Gods, do you know anything about them? They’re almost the same as the Greek Gods.”

 

“Wait,” James' head snapped up. “This is good. I know all about the Greek Gods.”

 

“Really? I’m impressed.”

 

“I had a Percy Jackson phase.”

 

“Oh, never mind.” Mia looked at him, affronted.

 

“Would you like to stay the night?” Julius queried, evidently peeved that they’d excluded him from their conversation.

 

“Yes, please.”

 


	8. julius, but not julius caesar

Julius gave them both two tunics: one to sleep in, and one to wear the next day. Mia was glad to finally have a tunic, her jeans had been getting weird looks all day. James somehow already had a tunic on when she met him, so he left the two clean tunics on the floor and chose instead to continue wearing the dirty one. Gross.

 

They were brought to a small chamber. There were a few cots in it, similar to those used for camping, and they were all lined against the wall. Julius bade them a good night and disappeared without another word.

 

It took Mia and James many hours to fall asleep. This could possibly have been due to the lack of glass over the windows: there were gaping holes in the wall, letting in cold air and freezing the room over. Or maybe it was because there were no blankets on their cots, only animal skins of varying degrees of warmth. What may have been the biggest reason, however, was probably due to the fact that both of them, last time they’d fallen asleep, had woken up over 2000 years in the past. Not ideal. Both Mia and James were scared that if they fell asleep again, they’d wake up even further in the past. Perhaps Ancient Egypt. Or the Neolithic Age. Or maybe they’d even wake up before the universe was created, back when space was just a vast expanse of weird gas. No, that would definitely not be ideal.

 

Thus it was with apprehensive defiance that both Mia and James sat stock still on their cots, refusing to lie down for fear of falling asleep. The hours passed slowly.

 

“So,” James began, turning to face Mia. “Tell me about yourself.”

 

Mia cut him off. “I’d rather not small talk.” 

 

“And I’d rather not sit in a room with you for hours on end if I don’t even know who you are.” At Mia’s silence, he stood up and walked to the door. “In that case, I’m gonna go exploring. Catch you later.”

 

Mia blinked. Was James dumb? Being caught sneaking around the house for the second time that day was definitely a sure way to get sent to jail. Did Romans even have jails? She groaned. Mia was tired and it was messing with her brain. “Wait,” she called out. “I’ll talk with you. Just don’t leave the room.”

 

“Alrighty.” James walked back over to his cot and sat down.

 

“Are you dating anybody?” Mia asked. Weird way to start a conversation.

 

“Yeah, for a couple of months now.” James moved so that he lay horizontally on his cot, facing up towards the ceiling. 

 

“I feel bad for whoever you’re dating, that must be rough.” Mia laughed.

 

“Oh, fuck off.”

 

*

The moon shone through the windows, lighting up the walls with a pale white glow. The shadows grew longer as the time passed, and before long, it was too dark to see anything. James tried to keep the conversation alive with Mia but they both knew it was futile: James eyelids were falling and Mia was already half asleep. They both nodded off.

  
  


The next morning Mia was woken up by the sun shining through the window. The curtains, left open, were made of a thin material, and couldn’t possibly block the sun out. Mia didn’t know what time it was. She looked around the room. Nothing seemed to have changed since last night, which meant that neither Julius nor his guards had entered the room while she slept.

 

She checked to see if James was awake. He was curled into a ball facing away from the window, one arm tucked under his head and softly snoring. Annoying. Mia shook him awake.

 

“Heugh?” He grumbled. James was evidently not a morning person.

 

“Come on, we’ve got to go find Julius to thank him for his hospitality.”

 

“Hospi- what- what?” James blinked and rubbed his eyes. “I’m not good with words in the morning.”

 

“Evidently.” Mia pursed her lips. She felt like a stern nanny, trying to wake up an uncooperative child. Strange that James reminded her of a child. 

 

“My face feels so weird in the morning.” He prodded and pulled at his cheeks. “Like, why is it so  _ squishy _ .”

 

Mia stared at him. On second thought, maybe not so strange. She pulled his sheepskin blanket off and tossed it to the corner of the room. “Come on, you have to get up.”

 

“Fine.”

  
  


Ten minutes later they left the room, both dressed in clean tunics, (although James had only changed after protesting for an entire minute). The house was much bigger than it had seemed last night, and they quickly got lost. Every corner seemed to lead to another room, and none of the rooms showed any sign of life. Finally, when they were about to turn the corner to another room, they heard a sharp laugh from off to the right and followed the sound. 

 

There was no sign of Julius when they walked into the room the sound had come from. The room seemed to be a breakfast hall; there was a table in the center laden with food. James immediately ran up and grabbed a handful of fruit from one of the dishes.

 

“Dude, come get some of this fruit,” James said, his mouth full from the handful of food he’d just unceremoniously shoved in his mouth. “It’s so good!”

 

Mia grimaced. “I’d rather not, thanks.” She sat down at the table at beckoned to James to sit next to her. They waited for a few minutes and then, just as James was reaching for his third handful of fruit, Julius walked in. He too wore a fresh tunic, although his was held up with a thin, sparkling gold belt. 

 

“Cool bling.” James remarked.

 

Julius frowned. “Bling? What is bling?”

 

Mia rolled her eyes. “It’s a term from our time.” She looked pointedly at James. “James here isn’t smart enough to know which words don’t exist yet.”

 

“I am too!” James argued. Then he paused. “On second thought- yeah. You’re right.”

 

Julius cleared his throat. “Since you are staying with me, I suggest you accompany me everywhere I go. That way I can make sure you don’t try to steal from me again.” 

 

“Sounds good.”


	9. the third window james fell out of

The day began with a large breakfast, which both Julius and his guards joined them for. Most of the food offered was some type of meat, and all the meat was cubed. They ate the meat with their hands. James thought it was awesome and dug in while Mia looked at him with distaste.

 

“Where are your parents?” She asked Julius, finally turning away from James. James took the opportunity to shove more meat in his mouth.

 

“They are away on business,” Julius explained. He wiped his fingers off on a napkin and frowned at James, who had swallowed too much at once and was silently choking. “I’m not old enough to go with them yet, so I stay at home with the guards and slaves.”

 

“You have slaves??” James was excited: he’d kinda always wanted to have a slave.

 

“Yes, they live with us and must clean up after us.” Julius frowned. “Don’t you have slaves?”

 

“Kind of. We usually just call them siblings, though.” James grinned as Mia hit him.

 

*

 

When breakfast was over, Julius led them to a different part of the house; one they had seen only briefly on their walk before breakfast. They entered a small room. There were a few seats on either side of a small table, and a chalkboard-like plaque hung on the wall. As Julius led them inside, James made eye contact with a slave standing by the far wall.

 

“That’s probably the teacher,” Mia explained, noticing the confusion on James’ face. “Rich Roman kids were homeschooled by educated servants.”

 

They sat down at the table and the man handed them each large leaves and a small bottle of ink. “What am I supposed to do with this?” James asked, examining the leaf. He narrowed his eyes. “Did Romans eat leaves? Is this a snack?”

 

Julius let out a short bark of laughter. “No, we write on them. That's what the ink pot is for.”

 

“I knew that.”

  
  


The slave-teacher introduced himself as Ancus and began teaching them about public speaking. James soon realised just how different Roman schools were to his school in Berlin: for one, he couldn’t get away with anything. He’d been taken by surprise when, after he was caught staring off into the distance instead of paying attention, Ancus caned him. He spent the next 5 minutes sourly rubbing the wound, glaring at the teacher.

 

Mia found it easy to get used to the school, of course. She and Julius diligently payed attention to every word Ancus said, all the while taking notes. This continues on for hours, until lunch, when a short lunch break was announced. Over the course of the next ten minutes, Mia bombarded Julius with questions about the school system.

 

“How many hours of schooling do you do a day?”

 

“Dunno,” he shrugged. “When I was younger we worked from when the sun rose to when it set, but now school ends a little bit earlier so I can talk with my father.”

 

“Wow,” James remarked, leaning forward in his seat slightly. “That sounds so boring.”

 

“And how about holidays?” Mia asked ignoring James. “We don’t get many in the US.”

 

“We get a lot of holidays because we have school every day.”

 

“What? No weekends? That’s awful!” For the first time, James truly sympathised with Julius. Sure, he may have slaves and a big house, but no weekends? Sounded awful.

 

“You must tell me about your lives,” Julius continued. He and Mia seemed to have an unspoken agreement to ignore whatever came out of James’ mouth. “I’m intrigued by this, what did you call it. US?”

 

“Oh, yeah. That’s where I live. It’s a very new country, even in my time. It won’t exist for another couple hundred years I don’t think.”

 

“And where are you from?” Julius asked, turning to James.

 

“Berlin, that’s in Germany. I have no idea when it was founded though.”

 

Julius nodded as Mia rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t.”

 

“What do you do to amuse yourselves then? Seeing as you have free time on these so-called weekends.”

 

James shrugged. “Depends what you’re into. I, for example, go to parties and sports competitions with my friends. Mia probably just sits by herself in the dark and cries.”

 

“I do not!”

 

Julius shushed Mia with a wave of his hand and continued his questioning of James. “So, parties? What do you do at parties?”

 

“Well, we mostly dance around and do stupid things. I usually go with my friends and we’ll talk trash about people and play truth or dare.”

 

“Oh.” Julius looked underwhelmed. “Our parties are better. We get dressed up in elegant clothing and drink wine as we listen to live poetry readings.”

 

James nodded solemnly. ”Sounds like a riot.”

  
  


School continued after the short break. They moved onto a different topic, this time being lectured about writings by some roman guy called ‘Cicero’. James didn’t pay much attention to the lesson. Ancus decided to stop wasting his time on getting James to pay attention and focused solely on Julius. After all, James and Mia were technically only visiting.

 

When the school day was over they returned to the dining table to have dinner, as it was already evening. James was exhausted from the day and ready to get to sleep. He couldn’t believe how boring the day had been. Ancient Rome always seemed to be a fun time, but all they’d done all day was sit in a stuffy classroom learning about how to talk and how to write. Perhaps Julius did crazy things on his holidays.

 

*

 

Looking back on it, it probably wasn’t the best idea for James to steal meat from the dinner table. You know, considering what had happened last time he’d tried to take something from Julius. But he was hungry. He couldn’t eat at the dinner table because Mia kept shooting him grossed out looks whenever he used his hands and it was extremely off putting. His solution: sneak a bowl of beef under his tunic and eat it when Mia wasn’t looking.

 

It was a genius plan. So genius in fact, that James didn’t stop and consider one major hindrance: beef stinks. And Mia was a vegan (of course she was vegan. Why did James have to get stuck in the past with a  _ vegan _ ?). She would flip out if she found out he was hiding extra meat in his clothes.

 

To hide the scent from Mia, he made sure to walk behind her on the way back to their room. As soon as they got there he dove to his bed and put the bowl under it. Then he waited. Mia was weird, surely she’d leave the room eventually to brush her teeth or look for a fresh tunic. It was only a matter of time. 

 

Sure enough, after about ten minutes she got up and announced that she was going to look for Julius. “I want to ask him more about the school system,” she explained.

 

Mia was weird.

 

Anyways, back to the bowl of meat under his bed. 

 

He carried it over to the windowsill and sat down. The wind would carry away any trace of the meat. See? James could be smart too. His plan was going along perfectly until Mia decided to show up again. 

 

When she saw him sitting in the window she narrowed her eyes at him. “What’cha got in your hands there?”

 

“Nothing.” He hurriedly threw the meat bowl out of the window. “I just just stretching.”

 

Silence.

 

Mia stared at him blankly.

 

Finally; “get down from there.”

 

“Yes please.” James started to slide off the window but realised that he should probably pick up the bowl he threw outside. “One moment.” He leaned backwards out of the window.

  
  


Now see, James wasn’t known for being the best problem-solver, but he really did think this was a good idea. At first it worked; he slid down slowly and, with his sights set on the bowl, reached out. He could almost feel Mia rolling his eyes at him.

 

Then everything went wrong. He reached out just a little bit too far and suddenly his weight was unbalanced and he began to fall more rapidly. Huh,  déjà vu . In a last-ditch attempt, he reached out to grab at the ledge but missed rather colossally, instead violently smacking his arm against the wall before continuing to fall. Something snapped suspiciously in his hand. 

 

He groaned as his head hit the ground below him.  _ Not again. _

 

Then everything went black.

  
Again.

**Author's Note:**

> for a school project


End file.
